


Making Spirits Bright

by stardustkr7



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batgirl of Burnside
Genre: F/M, Flashback fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-08 03:53:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5482370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardustkr7/pseuds/stardustkr7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A few years ago, Barbara met Luke Fox at a Christmas party. And shortly after, Batgirl ran into Batwing for the first time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making Spirits Bright

**Author's Note:**

> Katie prompted me Christmassy LukeBabs so this happened. 
> 
> Some liberty taken with the timelines here since I honestly am not sure whenabouts Luke was Batwing, but they seem to be kind of reworking his past in the Burnside book. And it just worked out cuter this way.

 

“Thanks for coming with me, sweetheart,” her father covertly whispered as they entered the large banquet room.

“Well, there’s bound to be good food,” said Barbara, smiling, her arm looped through his. She hadn’t exactly been thrilled about attending this particular Wayne Foundation Christmas Banquet and Silent Auction, but spending an evening with her favorite person in the world was worth it.

“Aha, that’s my girl,” said Jim approvingly. “I worry you work too hard. You don’t get out much anymore.”

“I get out enough,” said Barbara, hugging her bag a little tighter to her side. It was quite large for a fancy dinner party clutch, but between it and the very carefully sewn in pockets in her heavy winter coat, she was totally prepared for any possible vigilante opportunities. She was even already wearing the black leggings of her costume, concealed under the floor length navy blue dress.

“Commissioner, how are you tonight?” a man greeted her father warmly after the two found their table.

“Oh, very well, thank you, Lucius,” said Jim, shaking his hand. “Is Bruce around tonight?” he asked, glancing around as though hoping to see the billionaire himself pop out of the crowd.

Lucius Fox gave a somewhat tense smile at the question.

“Ah, no, I’m afraid Mr. Wayne and his young charge took a spontaneous holiday out of the country this weekend,” he explained.

Barbara tried really hard not to roll her eyes. Yeah, a spontaneous vacation just around the same time that Batman and Robin happened to have trotted off to Europe on a super secret case that of course Batgirl wasn’t allowed to help with.

 _Whatever, boys, I’ll hold the fort here just fine_ , she thought to herself. She was determined not at all to be irritated that she wouldn’t even get to see Dick Grayson at the party tonight. _Stupid boys_ …

“I see, which means you get left with the job of entertaining,” Jim guessed.

“Well, it’s for a good cause,” said Lucius graciously.

“Of course. Oh, you remember my daughter, Barbara?” said her father, turning back to her and putting a hand on her shoulder to usher her forward a little.

“So good to see you again, Barbara,” said Lucius, shaking her hand and smiling. “I believe my son is about your age. He’s around here somewhere … Luke?” He turned to survey the crowd a bit, frowning slightly and missing when a teenage boy appeared on his other side.

The first thing Barbara noticed was the bright red and green striped bowtie, slightly crooked but full of character. But the rest of his suit fit well, very well actually, across broad shoulders and tall, fairly built frame.

“Right here, Dad,” he said with a bit of a cheeky grin. A very cute, cheeky grin, Barbara noted.

“Oh, Luke! You must not sneak up on an old man,” said Lucius cheerfully, turning and putting a hand on his son’s shoulder. “Son, meet Commissioner Gordon and his daughter, Barbara.”

After shaking her father’s hand, Luke turned to her, head tilting slightly as he studied her.

“Wait a second, were you in Comp Sci 231 this semester?” he asked.

Barbara blinked, taken off guard at being recognized before she even realized it. She thought back to the class, going through the memory of the classroom and the other students.

“Oh! Yes, you were in the back row, third desk in from the left,” Barbara reported, seeing it right in her minds’ eye, as though it were yesterday.

It was Luke’s turn to be surprised at her accuracy. “Yeah … and you sat up front and kept correcting the professor,” he said, grinning again.

Barbara felt herself go red. She hadn’t corrected the professor that much, had she?

Jim laughed. “Oh yes, that sounds exactly like my Barbara,” he said. “You already at Gotham State too, Luke?”

“My son graduates high school in the spring, but he’s been picking up a few credits to get a little head start for next year,” said Lucius proudly.

“Very impressive,” said Jim, nodding. Something caught his eye across the room, he squinted and added, “I hope you don’t mind if I leave you for a moment. I just spotted the DA over there and need to have a word with him.”

Lucius Fox also excused himself to greet some more guests, leaving her and Luke alone.

“Sorry if I embarrassed you about the correcting the professor a lot thing,” said Luke after a moment. “I swear I actually thought it was hilarious. He was always so annoyed by it.”

Barbara smiled. “Oh, it’s okay. I don’t think he liked me very much by the end of the semester though,” she said. “Which might be a problem for my minor.”

“Doing a minor in computer science next year?” he asked.

“This year,” she said slowly.

He looked at her, confused for a moment, then said, “Wait, are you already in college? I thought you were my age.”

Barbara felt herself blush again. Well, here was the moment of truth. She had already seen people shut down when she explained her situation, sure that she was bragging about how smart she was.

“I’m seventeen. I graduated high school early. Just started at Gotham State this year,” she said, watching him carefully.

His eyes widened and he grinned again. “Damn. That’s cool. Barbara Gordon, college girl,” said Luke.

Relieved, she smiled back. “Babs. Most of my friends call me Babs,” she said.

“Well, Babs, would you be up to taking a walk around the room with a nerdy high school kid like me?” he asked, charmingly offering his arm.

She felt a little flutter in her stomach. Okay, this evening was turning out better than projected already. And certainly her father would much prefer she talked to a nice boy who did well in school and stayed out of trouble.

Although, she had learned that boys who could smirk like that could be very well acquainted with trouble.

“I’d love to,” Barbara said, slipping her arm in his.

***

“So, you go to these things often?” he asked her as they wandered around the room together.

“Yeah, my dad gets invited a lot and doesn’t want to go by himself,” said Barbara, starting to feel comfortable. Luke was nice, and seemed very interested in listening to her ramble on about odd facts that came to mind with each person they passed. “A little fancy for my usual tastes but usually I get to see--”

She stopped herself from saying it, realizing just in time that saying she got to hang out with another boy was probably not the wisest move.

“—all sorts of important people. But I’ve never seen you with your dad before,” Barbara said quickly, hoping he didn’t notice her pause and change sentence ideas too obviously.

“Yeah, it was kind of last minute. But it’s cool, better than having to babysit,” said Luke.

“You have siblings?” she asked.

Luke smiled fondly. “Yeah, my little sister, Tiffany. She’s actually pretty fun. Really smart kid too, they let her skip first grade,” he said. “I’ve been teaching her how to play basketball so she can go out for the team. You do any sports, Babs?”

Smart and hot and adores his kid sister. Barbara was melting on the inside.

Their light conversation carried them a few more loops around the ball room, past the appetizer buffet, and out to the large balcony where a few people mostly lingered near the heat lamps since it was the middle of winter. But there was no wind and the sky was clear.

They had to have been talking for at least an hour, maybe two. Barbara had somewhat lost track of the time.

“So, you’re a black belt and a ballerina, you’re brilliant, and you’re beautiful,” Luke summed up as they paused near the railing. “Anything you aren’t good at?”

Barbara blushed again. “Oh, um, well,” she stuttered, giggling a little at her own awkwardness. Was this really happening? Feeling a little bit brave, she stepped a little closer to him. “Are you always so forward, Mr. Fox?” she asked.

“Babs, please, Mr. Fox is my father,” he teased her.

She couldn’t stop giggling. Why was she acting like such a giddy, flirtatious mess tonight? _Get a grip, Gordon_ , she tried telling herself.

 He hesitated a little before saying, “I guess I should ask … do you have a boyfriend, Babs?”

“Oh, uh …” she said, caught off guard by the question. Blue eyes and a mischievous smirk flashed in her brain before she could chase the thought away. Luke’s smile started to fall the longer she took to answer.

“N-no, I don’t,” Barbara said, tumbling over the words. Swinging across rooftops and flirting through masks didn’t count as a boyfriend.

“Girlfriend? No judgment here,” he said, putting up a hand.

“No, not one of those either,” she said.

“But there is someone,” Luke guessed.

Someone she had already started to feel less and less close to these days, Barbara admitted.

She looked up at him and smiled. “It doesn’t matter, he’s not here,” she said.

Luke took the cue to move in again, his hand brushing over her upper arm. Barbara let her eyes flutter closed, trying not to freak out about the fact that he was totally about to kiss her.

_KABOOM!_

Startled, she opened her eyes and pressed a hand to his chest, looking around for the source of the loud noise. Around them, people on the balcony were gasping and pointing across the street where a building had a huge, smoking hole in the side. Below, people were running out of the restaurant on the ground floor.

“What happened?” Barbara asked.

“I dunno, some kind of explosion,” said Luke, taking a few steps back towards the doors leading back into the ballroom. “There’s people down there in danger, I’m gonna go call for help”

Barbara nodded and said, “I’m going to go find my dad!”

They parted ways inside, Barbara ducking into the crowd and heading straight for the table where she had left her coat and bag, running right past her father on the way.

***

Things were not exactly going how Batgirl planned. While she had managed to rescue a few trapped people and guide them to safety, on her second trip inside the about-to-collapse apartment building was proving trickier.

The stairwell she’d used last time was missing more steps and the smoke was getting thicker. Her filter facemask probably would be useless soon and the lenses in her domino mask were covered in soot.

But now she had managed to find two trapped kids still in one of the apartments. The fire escape on that side of the building had been completely destroyed by the explosion which meant they couldn’t get out that way.

“Batgirl!” the older one had cried when he saw her.

“This way!” she said, picking up the younger child and heading back out into the hallway. “Stay low!”

She couldn’t come back the way she came, not with two little kids in tow. But perhaps another apartment had a window that wasn’t blocked?

Batgirl put a hand to the door to the apartment across from them, feeling for warmth. Satisfied there wouldn’t be a backdraft, she kicked the door in and hurried across to a large window.

Suddenly, the window burst inward. Batgirl turned and quickly flung her cape up and around herself and the two kids. She looked up, squinting through the smoke at the figure that had flown into the window.

“Batman!” the boy shouted, jumping up.

It looked like Batman … except, shorter. And his mask looked different, but she just couldn’t see very well through the soot and smoke.

“Out this way!” he told her, scooping up the boy and disappearing out the broken window.

Batgirl blinked. What the hell?

She adjusted her grip on the little girl she carried, who clutched tightly onto Batgirl’s cape as she cried. Then Batgirl took a leap out the window, using her grapple to swing around the building and land out front.

Gotham EMS had already arrived on the scene. A paramedic quickly took the child from her arms.

Batgirl turned, looking around for where the short Batman had disappeared to. She narrowed her eyes, catching sight of pointed ears a couple buildings down.

***

“Just who the hell do you think you are?” Batgirl demanded when she caught up to him.

“Uh … Batwing?” he said, as though she had surprised him.

“Ugh, did he send you? So what, Batman and Robin are out of the country and instead of trusting me, they send a newbie for a babysitter?” Batgirl said, hands on her hips.

“Batman and Robin are out of the country?” he said, sounding confused.

Taken aback, Batgirl said, “Wait … you didn’t know that?”

He was looking at her with his head tilted slightly to the side. And there was something about his voice that was so very familiar.

They both seemed to figure it out at the same time. She gasped.

“Luke?”

“Barbara?”

Barbara froze, suddenly more than well aware that she had probably just given up more than her own identity.

“I have to go,” she said, bolting before he could say anything else to her.

Of all the boys at all the Christmas parties, somehow she still ended up flirting with one that was secretly a superhero.


End file.
